The gospel on celebrity and pop culture

While most of the "Black Swan" body shock has been over Mila Kunis' 20-pound weight loss, Natalie Portman is talking about her own yearlong character transformation -- one that earned her a Golden Globe nomination on Tuesday.

Training to be the perfection-obsessed Nina, Portman began dance classes 12 months before production started, starting at two hours a day and hitting five hours by the six-month mark.

"It was eight hours a day" in final two months, she told Vogue, "because we added choreography and cross training, so I was also swimming a mile a day. The discipline was good for the part -- it hurt a lot; your body is in constant pain."

The actress said she lived on coffee and ibuprofen, with about five hours of sleep per night.

Portman is open about her own journey with eating habits, admitting that her most uncomfortable phase was as a freshman at Harvard.

"I gained my freshman 15 or 20 and had super-depressed moments. That Cambridge winter is tough ... you start learning how to ask your friends or professionals for help, or go to mentors," she said.

Nowadays, she's a vegetarian, bordering on vegan -- which leads to interesting lunch orders. After Portman request for a green salad and a soft pretzel, Vogue's writer got curious.

"I swear, I eat. I ate a bagel an hour ago. I consume my own weight in hummus every day. ... I like pleasure, I like joy.